Wedding Dilemmas: Seating Charts

The invitations have gone, the RSVP’s have come in, so there really is only one last guest tasks to complete… the seating chart.

We feel almost nauseous thinking about how monumental this task is… its almost too overwhelming to think about…. but never fear, we are here to help you work your way through your seating chart minefield.

Seating chart etiquette dictates that guests should be seated as follows:

The Bride and Groom should be easily seen from anywhere in the room
The closest family members should be seated nearest to the bride and groom
For the bridal table, the wedding party is represented by the best man and the maid or matron of honor. Traditionally, the male-female pattern continues around/along the entire table

The guests should be seated as follows:

Family members should be seated together seated as close as possible to the bridal table
Friends/ colleagues should be seated together and placed towards the rear of the room, furthest from the bridal party

Or take a more modern approach…

How about considering “unassigned seating” where guests decide where they sit, or perhaps assigned tables, but no assigned seats, this ensures that friends and family all site together on the same table, yet are free to move around.

How about taking this one step further and make your seating completely up to the guests? This “first in best dressed” approach would certainly encourage guests to sit down quickly and get the reception underway!